Preclinical Pathology Proficiency

Gross Pathology Abilities

Our veterinary team is proficient with various types of gross necropsies per guidance documents such as end organ harvest including spinal cord and brain, coronary and peripheral vessel isolation (including neck and shoulder), breadloafing of tissue for detection of thromboemboli etc. for both GLP and non-GLP studies. We also contract with board-certified veterinary pathologists for gross observation during GLP and non-GLP testing studies as needed. Samples are fixed onsite as needed for histological analysis such as formalin fixation, perfusion fixation, cryofixation, snap freezing, cold saline soak, alcohol transfer for immunohistochemistry. Triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining can also be performed onsite.

Histopathology Capabilities

We work with approved third-party histopathology vendors. They are qualified appropriately in various therapeutic areas including, but not limited to: cardiology, structural heart, GI, neurology and orthopedics. Onsite, we have a Micro-CT for semi-quantitative calcification analysis, bone density measurements and other imaging needs.

Our qualified vendors provide the following services:

  • Sectioning including Cryosectioning
  • Plastics and Paraffin embedding
  • Faxitron Imaging
  • SEM analysis
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Various stains including, but not limited to: H&E, Masson Trichrome, Toluidine Blue, Von Geisen, etc.
  • Photomicrography
  • Microbiology
  • Executive summary and GLP or Non-GLP report generation.

Our approved vendors include: Alizee pathology, CV Path, Histion, UGA pathology. We are also flexible contracting with vendors of your choice provided they meet our selection criteria.

Clinical Pathology Abilities

Our program leadership and veterinary teams process clinical pathology samples to prepare them for analysis at third-party vendors. This includes selection of test appropriate collection tubes and labeling to indicate sample type, collection time point study subject ID and time sample was collected. The same teams will do sample collection, centrifugation, separation of serum and plasma, and cryofreezing of samples. Samples are processed and sent to Antech Diagnostics for non-GLP studies and Antech GLP for GLP studies. Other vendors may be utilized as needed.

The following analyses can be performed:

  • Hematology Panel
  • Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
  • Urinalysis
  • Coagulation profiles
  • Microbiology
  • PFH (plasma free hemoglobin) for hemolysis
  • PCV (packed cell volume)
  • Fecal Analysis
  • Absolute blood gas
  • Glucose tests
  • Cardiac troponin
  • Activated Clotting Time (ACT)

Once samples are processed, we work with board-certified clinical pathologists to write comprehensive reports and analysis for clinical pathology as needed.